


A Dinner in Hot Pursuit

by listentothewordsyousay



Category: Law & Order
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listentothewordsyousay/pseuds/listentothewordsyousay
Summary: 'You're wondering what sort of man I am too.'
Relationships: Claire Kincaid/Jack McCoy
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	A Dinner in Hot Pursuit

The waitress lit the candle between them as she cleared their plates and wine glasses. Claire tapped her fingers against her water glass and stared into the flickering light, wondering if it was supposed to be some sort of sign. It was Friday evening, the working week had finished; the business dinners had concluded; it was the early evening couples who occupied the restaurant now.

And them.

She was vaguely aware that he was talking and realised that she was drunk. She hadn’t eaten all day, and had insisted on matching him drink for drink, from the Scotch he had poured in the office to the expensive wine he had bought with dinner. Through the fog of tiredness and alcohol, she wished she had stuck to water.

‘I don’t think Mrs Harland was very pleased with you,’ she said thickly, dragging her gaze away from the shimmering tea light.

‘That wasn’t my goal,’ he answered. Whether it was her head, her heart or the wine that spoke for her she didn't know, but she blurted out the reservations she had about blaming the victim. 

‘You’re wondering what sort of man I am too.’ He was always able to see straight through her; could unnerve her with that look, cut right to the chase with one quip.

He had done it last weekend too, when she had sat up and searched for her underwear in his bed.

She shifted in her chair and persisted with work talk. They were colleagues. They worked together. He was her boss. She had expected another round of late night calls, awkward conversations, hailing cabs with bedhead and smudged lipstick. She hadn’t expected him to coax her back into bed and fall asleep with his arms around her, or to seem just as content for her to wear his old tshirt and eat his cereal from the box the next morning.

‘D’you want another drink?’

‘I think I’ll just go home.’ She lifted herself onto her feet, picked up her handbag and steeled herself to walk out without looking back at him.

Fall was giving way to winter, especially at this time of evening, when the bright lights tangled with the twilight to glow a little more brightly than they had during the hot, lazy summer nights. The bracing air was pleasantly cold on her flushed cheeks as she stepped out onto the sidewalk and breathed in deeply. She stood for just a little longer, feeling more at peace, until she heard the familiar tread behind her.

‘Will I get you a cab?’

‘Always a gentleman,’ she mumbled, looking down at his shoes.

‘Don’t go telling anyone,’ he said cheerfully. ‘You’ll ruin my reputation.’

She stayed quiet, feeling the wine come back to her head again.

‘Look, Claire. If you don’t want to do this, fine, we’ll move on. Dinner and drinks still on me, unless you’re right and I’m wrong about something.’ It worked; the corner of her mouth tilted up into a smile as she shook her head.

He smiled back, looking years younger with his hands in his pockets and the light from a streetlight illuminating his profile.

‘I don’t know what I want, Jack,’ she said eventually, taking a step towards him.

He manfully fought the urge to tell her that he knew that already, made himself keep his hands balled in his pockets instead of pulling her closer and sweeping her off her feet.

‘Let’s get a cab,’ he said eventually, settling for wrapping an arm around her shoulder. ‘You need to get home.’

He was never wrong, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Season 6, Episode 5.


End file.
